Metastable intermediates

Simple mechanistic considerations easily explain why heterolytic dissociation of the C — N bond in a diazonium ion is likely to occur, as a nitrogen molecule is already preformed in a diazonium ion. On the other hand, homolytic dissociation of the C —N bond is very unlikely from an energetic point of view. In heterolysis N2, a very stable product, is formed in addition to the aryl cation (8.1), which is a metastable intermediate, whereas in homolysis two metastable primary products, the aryl radical (8.2) and the dinitrogen radical cation (8.3) would be formed. This event is unlikely indeed, and as discussed in Section 8.6, homolytic dediazoniation does not proceed by simple homolysis of a diazonium ion. 

However, measurements of substituent effects supported the hypothesis that the aryl cation is a key intermediate in dediazoniations, provided that they were interpreted in an appropriate way (Zollinger, 1973a Ehrenson et al., 1973 Swain et al., 1975 a). We will first consider the activation energy and then discuss the influence of substituents, as well as additional data concerning the aryl cation as a metastable intermediate (kinetic isotope effects, influence of water acitivity in hydroxy-de-di-azoniations). Finally, the cases of dediazoniation in which the rate of reaction is first-order with regard to the concentration of the nucleophile will be critically evaluated. 

The formation of arynes (8.26) as metastable intermediates in aromatic dediazo-niations was postulated by Stiles and Miller (1960) for the case of the 2-carboxy-benzenediazonium zwitterion (8.25) and by Cadogan and Hibbert (1964) for unsubstituted benzenediazonium salts. ... 

There seem to have been only two investigations on dediazoniations in a protic solvent, where the observed products indicate that, in addition to DN + AN solvolysis, an aryne is likely to be present as a metastable intermediate. Broxton and Bunnett (1979) have found that 3-nitroanisole is formed in the dediazoniation of 2-nitroben-zenediazonium ions in methanol in the presence of methoxide ions. This has to be interpreted as a product arising from 3-nitro-l,2-benzyne as an intermediate. The occurrence of the aryne mechanism in poly (hydrogen fluoride)-pyridine mixtures, as discovered by Olah and Welch (1975), is mentioned in Section 8.2. 

In Section 8.3 the mechanism of heterolytic dediazoniation of arenediazonium ions was discussed, and it was shown that the hypothesis of Crossley et al. (1940) that the aryl cation is the characteristic metastable intermediate in those reactions was not consistent with some experimental facts found in 1952 by Lewis and Hinds. Nevertheless, these facts did not have significant influence on the scientific community, which continued to accept the original and apparently convincing hypothesis of the rate-limiting formation of an aryl cation as an intermediate as correct . The incom-patabilities of various mechanistic hypotheses with experimental facts were, however, discussed in some detail only two decades later (Zollinger, 1973 a). Another year passed before I performed a crucial experiment that refuted a number of hypotheses (Bergstrom et al., 1974, 1976). ... 

The third area is the synthesis and characterization of aryldiazenido complexes of transition metals. In 1964 King and Bisnette isolated the first metal complex with an aryldiazenido ligand. The interest of organometallic chemists was concentrated mainly on the isolation and characterization of stable aryldiazenido complexes and not on potential metastable intermediates involved in metal-catalyzed dediazonia-tions. The situation is different, however, for metal complexes with alkyl-diazenido ligands. Complexes with aryl- and alkyldiazenido ligands are the subject of Chapter 10 in the forthcoming second book (Zollinger, 1995). 

Failure to observe polarization in a particular reaction is significant only to the extent that any negative evidence is significant. If other evidence points to a radical pathway for the reaction, it may well be worth checking that the nuclear relaxation times for nuclei in the product are not unexpectedly short and also that polarization is not observable in a different spectral region from that expected for the final product owing to the formation of a metastable intermediate. 

Traditional solid-state synthesis involves the direct reaction of stoichiometric quantities of pure elements and precursors in the solid state, at relatively high temperatures (ca. 1,000 °C). Briefly, reactants are measured out in a specific ratio, ground together, pressed into a pellet, and heated in order to facilitate interdiffusion and compound formation. The products are often in powdery and multiphase form, and prolonged annealing is necessary in order to manufacture larger crystals and pure end-products. In this manner, thermodynamically stable products under the reaction conditions are obtained, while rational design of desired products is limited, as little, if any, control is possible over the formation of metastable intermediates. ... 

The kinetics and mechanisms of the C —> G transition in a concentrated solution of PS-fr-PI in the PS-selective solvent di-n-butyl phthalate was studied [137,149]. An epitaxially transformation of the shear-oriented C phase to G, as previously established in melts [13,50,150], was observed. For shallow quenches into G, the transition proceeds directly by a nucleation and growth process. For deeper quenches, a metastable intermediate structure appears, with scattering and rheological features consistent with the hexag-onally perforated layer (PL) state. The C -> G transition follows the same pathways, and at approximately the same rates, even when the initial C phase is not shear-oriented. 

Initiation of growth may also proceed by formation of metastable structures when nucleation is inhibited. Multiply twinned structures have been observed for a number of metals. Their presence indicates an icosohedral or decahedral precursor cluster which has decomposed to a multiply twinned crystal at a critical size [117, 118], Another example of metastable intermediate structures was reported by Dietterle et al. 

Helical ribbons were found to be metastable intermediates in the process of cholesterol crystallization from bile in the gallbladder.160 Since gallstones result from the formation of cholesterol monohydrate crystals in supersaturated... 

Figure 5.42 Sequence and relative stability in growth pattern of bile showing formation of metastable intermediates as function of time after supersaturation. Less stable structures have higher chemical potential. Solid and dotted arrows represent observed and presumed transitions, respectively. Reprinted with permission from Ref. 161. Copyright 1993 by the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A.

Methylanisole. The competition between ortho and ipso attack [analogous to that depicted in (83)] applies to the simultaneous nitration and demethyla-tion of 4-methylanisole. The identification of 4-nitro-4-methylcyclohexa-2,5-dienone as the metastable intermediate in charge-transfer nitration (Kim et al., 1993) is particularly diagnostic of the ipso adduct (84) that is also apparent in the electrophilic nitration of 4-methylanisole (Sankararaman and Kochi, 1991). The common bifurcation of nitration pathways resulting from para (ortho) and ipso attack on the various aromatic donors, as noted above, indicates that the activation step leading to the Wheland intermediate and... 

It is important to examine more closely reaction (3.72), which proceeds [18, 19] through a metastable intermediate complex—the methyl peroxy radical—in the following manner ... 

Several descriptions of the process of addition of the electrophile X" " to aromatic substrates, based on kinetic and other evidence have been given and most versions agree that the potential energy surface does not consist of a simple barrier, but involves details relating to metastable intermediates. 

Despite patient and exhaustive effort by many researchers, all attempts to isolate or trap a benzazirine intermediate (214) have so far failed, and unequivocal evidence for their participation in either the photolytic or thermal decomposition of aryl azides is still awaited. Evidence in favor of the proposed reaction pathway (Scheme 22) comes from the work of Sundberg and coworkers, who succeeded in identifying 3-alkyl-2-diethylamino-lff-azepines as oxygen-sensitive, metastable intermediates in the photolysis of o-alkylphenyl azides in diethylamine (72JA513). Later studies on the flash photolysis of aryl azides in dialkylamine solution provided kinetic data which not only confirmed the Iff- to 3/f-azepine tautomer-ism, but also strongly supported the involvement of a benzazirine intermediate (74JA7491). 

Fig. 14. Formation of metastable intermediate revealed in a classical molecular dynamics simulation of the decaniobate ion under basic conditions. Oxygen atoms are red, niobium atoms are green, and protons are white. The added hydroxide ion is represented by the yellow oxygen. Nbi is nucleophilically attacked by the hydroxide ion in (b), and the upper bond to the m3 and the bonds to the me oxygen atoms in the center of the ion are broken. The displaced niobium atom then proceeds to hydrate, with the waters represented by the blue oxygen atoms becoming progressively attached, and then hydrolyzing to release protons that can bind to other oxygen atoms on the decaniobate. Water molecules also hydrate the top Nb3 atoms as they become detached from the central m6 oxygen atoms after the Nb -m30 bond is ruptured.

Figure 13.27 Dual-pathway square scheme mechanism that accounts for the rearrangements induced by the monoelectronic reduction of deprotonated rotaxane 92+. The species A and C represent the stable structure of the deprotonated rotaxane and its monoreduced form, respectively, whereas and D are metastable intermediates. Note that the exact position of the macrocycle along the axle in the reduced forms and C is not known. From a simple digital simulation of the cyclic voltammetric patterns, the following values have been obtained = - 0.59V, E°dc = - 0.34V, /cAD 0.15S- da<2.5s kBC > 100 s and kCB 1 s V...

---